Best Powders for 147 gr, 150 gr, & 168 gr bullets.

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HotLead
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Re: What powder for 150 gr - 147 gr bullets to get 2K fps?

Post by HotLead »

I have also been trying to hit the 2000fps mark with the 147gr M80 bullet.

So far I have achieved 1950fps average with 17.0gr of W296, crimped with the Lee FC die.
17.5 grains of W296 uncrimped, also yielded similar velocity.

Lil' Gun is my next powder to try.

eta: my results are with a 10.5" barrel; this load in a 16" barrel is sure to hit the target velocity.
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firedavis
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Re: What powder for 150 gr - 147 gr bullets to get 2K fps?

Post by firedavis »

What about the superformance powder from hornady?
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Re: What powder for 150 gr - 147 gr bullets to get 2K fps?

Post by TMH260 »

firedavis wrote:What about the superformance powder from hornady?
Way too slow burning.
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JohnInNH
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Re: Best Powders for 147 gr, 150 gr, 168 gr bullets.

Post by JohnInNH »

I changed the Topic heading from "What powders for 150 gr- 147 gr bullets to get 2K" to " Best Powders for 147 gr, 150 gr, & 168 gr bullets"

It seems the 300 AAC Blackout is best suited for the 110-130 gr bullets for supersonic. Specialty bullets from Barnes are $0.69 each. We have many choices in the 147-168 gr range that are in the $0.17- $0.30 range with abundant "pulled" .mil bullets making them an attractive choice. W/O going over way over the recommended limit of 55K how can we get the better performance with these bullets?

Can we get 2050 or even 2075 FPS with the .mil 147-150s and what is the best we can do with our old 168s that have been shelved for the higher BC 175's or 155s for our LR shooting in our 308/300 mags

I hear "MAJOR" can be made with the 175 but these "Middle weight" bullets seem to be the redheaded step child bullets in the BLK.

We have all sorts of new Powders I am unfamiliar with. I'm old school where A1680 is really to me W680, RL-7 IMR 4227, 2400, W296, 4198, IMR 4060 + 4895 are the common powders to me. Lill Gun, and even Varget are "new fangled" to me.

I am convinced there is one powder that is JUST RIGHT for the 147-152 Ball and, too to some point, may be better for the 165-168 then A1680 as well.

This would add a more flexibility to the BLK and give us poor folks a better choice than the 125 Sierra and 110 Vortex ammo. I feel the 150 range is just better in the .30, with more inertia for the more "difficult" tasks. To me a 150 is actually a lighter bullet, and 110-125 is a Varmint Bullet.

I have usually not hunted with the 150's but rather 165s for flat shots, and 180s as my primary. With the smaller case of the BLK the 150 will be slower so it will not spoil meat. In a way that is a plus. But 1850-1950 FPS is a little on the slow side.

Bullets in the 180 range perform well in the BLK with A1680, so I think that's covered. It may be the ideal weight for the dual role which initially I had thought the 150 may be, it is unremarkable at both subsonic and supersonic.

Let's keep this thread as the "go to" place for the 147-152 gr & 168 gr loads.
I hate to keep buying powders and failing. It seems the reloading and component companies are not giving us much data on these weight bullets either, keeping us in the dark. Again it's 110-130 gr then the jump to the subsonic heavy bullets skipping the cheep popular middle weights.

I think we really need 3 powders 296, ???, and A1680 Granted in bolt guns 231 and Bluedot may be a better subsonic powder than 1680 ,and 296 can be dangerous in reduced loads.

Let's see if we can come up with this powder and make the supersonic performance of these less expensive bullets a little better.
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C2_Drew
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Re: Best Powders for 147 gr, 150 gr, & 168 gr bullets.

Post by C2_Drew »

The PNW Arms 147 gr BLK ammo is specified as 2000 FPS. Maybe we should just call them up and ask what the magic combination is! :lol:

http://www.pnwarms.com/Product.aspx?productId=61

In all seriousness, I think getting the 147 / 150 recipes right is key for us reloaders until bulk BLK bullets hit the market. The UMC 115s would be nice if they can be had for a reasonable price. I'm sure reloaders make up a good portion of early adopters of any new caliber, and they don't want to undermine their UMC sales. As long as BLK bullets are around $40 a box from the premium companies, there's not a whole lot of difference from just buying UMC, right?

I don't have any pulled bullets at the moment, but as soon as I see repeatable results, they'll be on the way!
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JohnInNH
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Re: Best Powders for 147 gr, 150 gr, & 168 gr bullets.

Post by JohnInNH »

C2_Drew wrote:The PNW Arms 147 gr BLK ammo is specified as 2000 FPS. Maybe we should just call them up and ask what the magic combination is! :lol:

http://www.pnwarms.com/Product.aspx?productId=61

In all seriousness, I think getting the 147 / 150 recipes right is key for us reloaders until bulk BLK bullets hit the market. The UMC 115s would be nice if they can be had for a reasonable price. I'm sure reloaders make up a good portion of early adopters of any new caliber, and they don't want to undermine their UMC sales. As long as BLK bullets are around $40 a box from the premium companies, there's not a whole lot of difference from just buying UMC, right?

I don't have any pulled bullets at the moment, but as soon as I see repeatable results, they'll be on the way!
I know if they are getting 2000 FPS with the 147 you should easily get 2000 FPS with the M2 Ball 152s (most are 150) as it has no boat tail making more room for powder. They may be using a 16" or longer barrel too. I think ALL FPS listings should have barrel length with it.

Alliant has a listing for a 150 in a 30-30 at 2371 FPS now. up 200+ FPS over their regular loads using Powder Pro "Varmint" this leads me to think with some of these new powders an OPTIMIZED 150 gr load in the BLK could be 2100 fps easy with a flat base bullet (not optimal due to larger Ogive for AR mag use)
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Re: Best Powders for 147 gr, 150 gr, & 168 gr bullets.

Post by TMH260 »

John I am with you on the experimentation. Can't wait for better weather and less work hours to try some stuff out myself. This is how I am seeing things: H-110/Win 296 for lighter bullets in the 110 -125 range, Lil-gun 125-150 range and A1680 up for supers. Seems like Lil-gun provides better velocity than H-110/Win 296 with the slightly heavier bullets at significantly lower pressures.
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Twistomatic
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Re: Best Powders for 147 gr, 150 gr, 168 gr bullets.

Post by Twistomatic »

JohnInNH wrote: Let's keep this thread as the "go to" place for the 147-152 gr & 168 gr loads.
I hate to keep buying powders and failing. It seems the reloading and component companies are not giving us much data on these weight bullets either, keeping us in the dark. Again it's 110-130 gr then the jump to the subsonic heavy bullets skipping the cheep popular middle weights.
I agree completely John. I asked the same question here viewtopic.php?f=141&t=78480
The 300 Black has been SAAMIed for a year now. A year for crying out loud. Data is almost nill.
Like you said above the "CHEAP POPULAR MIDDLE WEIGHTS" get no data.

I DO NOT want to use Whisper data that many people point to. By doing that you make the whole purpose of being submitted to SAAMI worthless.

Paying top dollar for "light weight" bullets that are boutique in nature, as in super duper match bullets, is not what MOST people want.

They want to PLINK, shoot a bunch for cheap, enjoy an afternoon without burning a hole in your wallet...type of shooting. I like it that much that I built a dedicated AR to shoot only 300 AAC Blackout. No changing uppers and crap like that.
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Re: Best Powders for 147 gr, 150 gr, & 168 gr bullets.

Post by SomeOtherGuy »

Western Powders' load data includes that whole range of bullets for two of the powders, and up to 150 for the third. Good for them.

I think that enough of us contacting Hodgdon to plug the gap in their data, and Alliant to develop and publish any data, would be beneficial.

Same thing for Sierra or Hornady, I suppose. (I tend to focus on powder company load data.)
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Re: Best Powders for 147 gr, 150 gr, & 168 gr bullets.

Post by TMH260 »

John have you had a chance to try the 147/150 with 21.7 grains of 1680? Supposedly (haven't tried it yet) this will break the 2K barrier.
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